Jammu: J&K governor Satya Pal Malik’s offer of reaching out to the separatist leaders is a welcome step, but as a confidence building measure (CBM), it is essential that the Governor’s administration atleast orders a time-bound enquiry and fixes responsibility in three major incidents of the civilian killings in the last six months.
Three innocent people, including a young girl and two boys, were killed by the security forces in Hawoora area of Kulgam in July. Then in October seven civilians died in a blast at an encounter site in Laroo, Kulgam and even the Governor administration regretted the killings, but there was no follow-up. Similarly, seven more civilians were killed in forces firing in Pulwama last month.
The list of such killings which happened during previous PDP-BJP government is long. But if the Governor wants to restore the credibility of the administration and create conducive atmosphere for dialogue, atleast time-bound enquiry and fixing of responsibility must start from these three incidents which all happened after the imposition of the Governor rule in the state.
The main reason for the prevailing situation in Kashmir is that the present dispensation in New Delhi is refusing to recognise the nature of the unrest which is essentially political. They only see it through the prism of security. Unfortunately, instead of initiating dialogue and CBMs, the response of the BJP Government has been to use more force. It must understand that more it uses the force, more it will aggravate the situation.
